Internet based learning systems

ABSTRACT

A learning system is adapted to provide a learning management system adapted to present an exercise environment to the user in which the user is able to practice skills through a combination of presented media and practice areas. The learning system is adapted to provide feedback to the user during the practice session to allow the user to improve performance while in the exercise environment. Additionally, the learning system is adapted to track the user&#39;s performance in terms of practice time and in terms of accuracy percentage to allow the student and the educator to monitor performance related to effort. Still additionally, the learning systems of the present disclosure may be adapted to track the types of errors committed by the users to enable the users and educators to provide more directed educational experiences and practice sessions to overcome recurring problems.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/882,927, entitled “INTERNET BASEDLEARNING SYSTEMS” and filed on Dec. 30, 2006, which application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to methods and systems related toInternet-based learning systems. As used herein, learning systems referto systems used by educators to teach others and used by individuals inan effort to learn material. The learning systems may additionallyinclude reporting and performance tracking features that are notdirectly involved in the students' efforts to learn materials but areimportant for an educator to adapt the teaching style to facilitate thelearning process.

BACKGROUND

Learning systems have evolved rapidly in the past several years. In thenot too distant past, educators relied primarily on chalkboards, papers,and pencils. Since then, educators have increasingly implementedteaching methods including projectors, computers, and evenInternet-based materials. The simplest use of the Internet ineducational endeavors is the use of the communication features of theInternet to send and receive materials from educators to learners. Moreadvanced uses of the Internet involve educators who have begun postingeducational materials on the Internet for access by particular learners(i.e., registered students) or by any member of the public. Some ofthese Web-based educational materials include interactive features thatallow the users to test their recollection of the materials and askquestions of their teachers. A variety of tools and programs can be usedor combined to enable this level of functionality.

Still more advanced Internet-based educational systems utilize acombination of technologies that have come to be referred to as learningmanagement systems. The conventional learning management systems allowthe educator to organize structured educational materials, which mayinclude audio/visual materials and/or text materials. The structurededucational materials are delivered through the learning managementsystem in a manner that tracks the individual users of the system andtheir performance within the educational materials. Conventionallearning management systems require a user to login to the learningmanagement system, present educational content to the user over theInternet, track the user's progress through the educational materials(e.g., text or video presentations), and test the user's comprehensionand/or recollection through quizzes and/or tests at one or more stagesin the presentation. The learning management system then reports theuser's progress and performance on the quizzes and tests for monitoringand reporting. The administrator and/or educators with proper access tothe learning management system are then able to have ready-access toinformation about the progress of the learners. The information providedby the learning management system to the educator may allow the educatorto better focus instructional efforts and may allow the educator torevise the educational content delivered by the learning managementsystem.

A primary limitation of conventional learning management systems was therequirement that the learners' performance be monitored through quizzesand tests with a defined question and answer structure. Accordingly, theeducator was required to identify the aspects of the educationalmaterials that were most important and to develop appropriate questionsto enable evaluation of the learners' understanding, comprehension,and/or recollection of the identified aspects. While this testingapproach may be appropriate for some subject matters, there are othersubjects for which conventional testing through questions and answers isnot a suitable evaluation technique. For example, the inventors haveidentified that there are a number of disciplines that are psychomotorskill-based rather than understanding-based, or that are at leastpartially dependent on the development of psychomotor skills.Additionally, the inventors have identified that there is nonetwork-based system for receiving, tracking, measuring, and providingfeedback during psychomotor skill performance in a real environment, asopposed to a simulated environment. For example, transcriptionists,whether medical coders, court reporters, or others that are expected towrite or type accurately and quickly, must learn and understand certainconcepts specific to the particular type of transcription work, but theactual transcription performance is a more important indicator oflearning than understanding of these concepts. A test of the underlyingconcepts will not reveal whether the learner can type or transcribe at aparticular speed or accuracy.

The example of a transcriptionist is a plainly apparent example of alearning environment where the learners' skills and performance can bereadily input into a computer through, for example, a keyboard. However,a number of computer interface devices may be adapted for use with anInternet-based learning management system. For example, court reporters,captioners, and CART providers often transcribe on stenotype machineshaving customized keyboards and a language that must be translated tobecome legible English. Interfaces between the stenotype machines andthe computer are generally available to convert the stenographers'keystrokes into legible text on the computer, which is commonly known asreal-time transcription or real-time reporting. Similarly, interfacesmay be developed between other external devices and a computer totranslate external or real actions to corresponding actions in a virtualor simulated world on the computer. For example, a simulated drivingexam may allow a user to operate external controls replicating an actualcar and the result of the user's actions may be shown on the computer inthe form of a virtual cockpit view or an aerial view of thecorresponding car movements. The performance of the user in conductingthe simulated vehicle is a more accurate evaluation of whether the userunderstands the relevant traffic laws compared to the traditionalmultiple choice format exam. Historically, such exams have been inmultiple choice format because of the time required to physicallymonitor the simulated car's performance on the screen and/or because ofthe time and danger involved in replicating such actual driving exams inthe real world.

Conventional learning management systems, including content files andthe learning management engines, require the users' performance to betracked through conventional question-answer based exams or quizzes.Educators can test to greater or lesser degrees of depth and/or breadththrough more questions, more difficult questions, and the like. However,current learning management systems are unable to report on performanceof a live-action event, such as transcription, translation, driving,etc.

In the exemplary educational context of transcription education, therehave conventionally been just two modes of education and practice.Historically, the teachers would read the practice material text to thestudents at the desired pace and the class of students would begin thetranscription practice. The students and/or teachers would then be ableto compare their transcripts with the test materials to find errors.Much of the teacher's time was spent reading practice text to thestudents and reviewing student's transcripts that were substantiallycorrect, such that the teachers had little time to focus on thestudent's problem areas or ways to improve the student's performance.More recently, the field of transcription education has begun providingprerecorded dictations, whether on cassette or more modern formats suchas mp3 files, for the students to listen to while practicing thetranscription. However, the student's transcripts were then sent to theteacher for review and comparison with the actual transcript. Again, theteacher's time and efforts were distracted away from actually teachingand helping the students.

In these conventional methods of teaching transcription, the teacherswere left with limited time to track student performance in whatevermethod seemed appropriate for the teachers. There was no uniform orconvenient way to recognize patterns of errors among the students or fora particular student. The teacher's efforts reviewing and comparingtranscripts often took so much time that the teacher had little time ormotivation to do more than flag the mistakes and allow the student tofigure out what was going wrong.

SUMMARY

The systems and methods of the present disclosure have been developed inresponse to the present state of the art, and in particular, in responseto the problems and needs in the art that have not been fully solved bycurrently available Internet-based learning systems and methods.Accordingly, the present disclosure provides learning systems andmethods that evaluate and report a user's performance based on real-timeperformance rather than isolated questions.

More specifically, the present disclosure provides learning systems andmethods adapted to provide learning management systems and methodsadapted to present an exercise environment to the user in which the useris able to practice transcription skills through a combination of mediapresentation (including streaming media) and practice areas. Thelearning systems and methods are adapted to provide feedback to the userduring the practice session to allow the user to improve performancewhile in the exercise environment. Additionally, the learning systemsand methods are adapted to track the user's performance in terms ofpractice time and in terms of accuracy percentage to allow the studentand the educator to monitor performance related to effort. Stilladditionally, the learning systems and methods of the present disclosuremay be adapted to track the types of errors committed by the users toenable the users and educators to provide more directed educationalexperiences and practice sessions to overcome recurring problems.

These and other features and advantages of the present description willbecome more fully apparent from the following description or may belearned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the manner in which the above-recited and other featuresand advantages of the present disclosure are obtained will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description of the present systems andmethods briefly described above will be rendered by reference tospecific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appendeddrawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typicalembodiments of the systems and methods and are not therefore to beconsidered to be limiting of its scope, the present technology will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a learningsystem according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating at least some of thefunctions available to a user in an example of a learning system;

FIG. 3 is a display of a learning management environment;

FIG. 4 is a display of an alternative learning management environment;

FIG. 5 is a display of an additional portion of the alternative learningenvironment illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a display of a learning management environment showing oneexample of a content panel;

FIG. 7 is a display of a learning management environment showing anotherexample of a content panel;

FIG. 8 is a display of a learning management environment showing yetanother example of a content panel;

FIG. 9 is a display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 10 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 11 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 12 is a display of an exercise environment having a control dialogpop-up;

FIG. 13 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 14 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 15 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 16 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 17 is another display of an exercise environment;

FIG. 18 is a display of a practice time report screen;

FIG. 19 is a display of a progress report screen;

FIG. 20 is a display of a practice log screen;

FIG. 21 is a display of a student progress report screen;

FIG. 22 is a display of an alternative practice log screen;

FIG. 23 is a display of a timeout setting screen;

FIG. 24 is a another display of an exercise environment; and

FIG. 25 is a display of a focused repractice screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The presently preferred embodiments will be best understood by referenceto the drawings. It will be readily understood that the components, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the following more detailed description of the learning managementsystem, as represented in FIGS. 1 through 23, is not intended to limitthe scope of the present disclosure, but is merely representative ofpresently preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a learning system 10 within the scope of the presentdisclosure. The learning systems 10 within the scope of the presentdisclosure include a learning management system 11 adapted to produce alearning management environment 12 for the users. The learning systems10 may also include a navigation engine 13 adapted to produce anexercise environment 14 for the users. The learning managementenvironment 12 and the exercise environment 14 may be adapted to bedelivered to the user at any computer having access to the Internet. Ina preferred implementation, the learning system 10 is a Web-basedapplication that requires little or no software to be installed on theuser's computer other than a standard Internet browser with conventionaladd-ins, plug-ins, cookies, or other files. Accordingly, the software,hardware, and data that generate the learning management environment andthe exercise environment for the users are located at a site remote fromthe user and installed or saved on servers or drives located remote fromthe user. In some implementations, the remote nature of the learningsystem components may be as proximate as within the same company, thesame university, the same community, the same building, or even the sameroom. As used herein, the user is remote from the learning system 10because the learning system is accessed via the Internet, local areanetwork, or wide-area network rather than through a local installationon the user's computer.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the learning system 10 may beconsidered to include the hardware and software that produces thelearning management environment 12 and the exercise environment 14 forthe user. In other aspects, the learning management system 10 may beconsidered to include the systems and methods of instructing andlearning that are enabled by the hardware and software that provide thelearning management environment 12 and the exercise environment 14.

The learning management environment 12 with which the user interacts maybe provided by the learning management system 11, which may comprise alearning management engine and associated database(s) (not shown). Thelearning management system 11 may be Shareable Content Object ReferenceModel (SCORM) conformant and may be hosted on a network server. Theexercise environment 14 may be provided by the navigation engine 13. Thenavigation engine 13 may be adapted to facilitate the user's access toeducational content and interaction with the educational content. Insome implementations, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the navigationengine 13 may communicate with a content engine 15 that in turn isadapted to communicate with a content repository 17 and to produce theexercise environment 14 for the user's interaction. The navigationengine 13 and/or the content repository 17 may be hosted on the sameInternet-connected server as the learning management system 11 or on aseparate Internet-connected server. For example, the navigation engine13 and/or the content repository 17 may be within the same firewalleddomain as the learning management system 11 or may be outside thelearning management system's domain and accessible to the learningmanagement system only through a suitable Internet communicationprotocol. The learning management system may communicate with thenavigation engine 13 through communication methods such as described inone or more SCORM publications. Additionally or alternatively, thelearning management system and the navigation engine may communicatewith each other through communication protocols based upon, butmodified, from the basic protocols outlined and described in SCORMpublications. For example, the navigation engine and the learningmanagement system may communicate with each other even when not locatedon the same domain through the use of one or more communicationprotocols. Similarly, the content engine 15 and the content repository17 may be hosted on the same or different Internet connected servers ordomains and may communicate with each other through conventionalInternet protocols and/or SCORM conformant protocols.

Referring again to FIG. 1, learning systems 10 such as provided to theuser through the hardware and software configurations discussed abovemay provide learning management environments 12 and exerciseenvironments 14 having one or more of a variety of modules 16. FIG. 1illustrates several exemplary modules 16 that may be associated with oneor more of the learning management environment 12 and the exerciseenvironment 14. Other modules may be incorporated in learning systems 10within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, a user loginmodule (not shown) may be considered a separate module that controlsuser access to the learning management environment. Alternatively, useraccess controls may be incorporated into the Web-based application as auser login required before gaining access to the Web site hosting thelearning system 10.

Once the user gains access to the learning system 10, the user ispresented with the learning management environment 12, one example ofwhich is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, as well as subsequent figures. Asillustrated schematically in FIG. 1 and representatively in FIG. 4, thelearning management environment 12 may provide an activities/lessonsmodule 18 that displays lessons and/or activities that are available tothe user. The activity/lessons module 18 may be adapted to illustratecontent or activities in the content repository to which the learningmanagement system has pointed through the navigation engine 13 and/orthe content engine 15. Alternatively, the content or activitiesdisplayed to the user in the activities module 18 may be limited to asubset of the activities in the content repository, which may be definedby the user's login and/or the user's progress thus far through thecontent in the content repository. As described above, the contentrepository 17 may include one or more content packages that includestructured educational materials, which structure may limit users tocertain content at certain times or under certain conditions, such asattaining a predetermined performance level in prerequisite educationalmaterial. The activity module 18 may present the availablelessons/activities in a hierarchal or topical manner to allow the userto select particular chapters, subdivisions, or topics of the content.Additionally or alternatively, the activities module 18 may presentmerely high level descriptions of the available content for selection bythe user; the user may then be able to drill down to particularsubdivisions of the educational material through interacting with thecontent panel module 20 described below.

As seen in FIG. 5, which is a continuation of the screen shown in FIG.4, and as illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, learning managementenvironments 12 within the present disclosure may include mentoringmodules 22, calendaring modules 24, personal reports modules 26,administrative reports modules 28, and administrative options modules30. Each of these modules and their functions will be described ingreater detail with reference to one or more of the remaining figures.FIG. 1 illustrates schematically that each of these communication andreporting modules and associated features are provided in the learningmanagement environment 12 by the learning management system 11 and maybe based at least in part on information obtained from the exerciseenvironment and the content engine 15.

Additionally, with reference to FIG. 1 and to FIG. 4, the learningmanagement environment 12 may provide one or more additional modules 16,illustrated in FIG. 1 as miscellaneous modules 32, directed towards helpfunctionality or communication directly with the learning systemprovider, developer, or operator. Additionally, FIG. 4 illustrates onerepresentative tools/tips module 34 in the form of a “word of the day”module. Other tools and tips modules may be implemented that are moresuitable for particular subject matters. FIG. 4 also illustrates anexemplary implementation of a location trail indicator 36. The functionof the location trail indicator 36 is better illustrated in FIGS. 6-8where the learning management system 11 is pointing to differenteducational materials via the content engine 15 and the contentrepository 17. More specifically, the location trail indicator 36 may beassociated with the content panel module 20 to show where the user islooking within the content available from the content repository.

With continued reference to FIGS. 1-2 and 4-6, a common method ofinteracting with the learning system 10 will be described. A user whologs into the learning management environment 12 may view a list ofavailable exercises in the activities module 18. Upon selecting anactivity from the list in the activities module 18, the content panel 20may be populated or filled with information from the content repositoryshowing the exercises 38 available within the activity selected by theuser. As seen in FIG. 6, the exercises 38 may be grouped into one ormore lessons or chapters 40 within the activity selected by the user.The information presented in the content panel 20 is part of the contentpackages or files stored in the content repository and accessed by thenavigation engine 13 and/or the content engine 15 for presentation inthe learning management environment 12. The educational materialspresented by the learning system 10 may dictate a variety ofconfigurations or structures for the content packages or the preferencesof the educator may lead to a particular structure for the exercises inthe content packages. The content panel module 20, the activities module18, and the location trail indicator 36, together or separately, mayhelp guide the user through the educational materials. The user may thenselect a particular exercise 38, such as by clicking on one or morelinks or buttons. The operation and interaction upon selecting aparticular exercise will be described in more detail below, but may besummarized as causing an exercise environment 14 to open.

FIG. 2 presents a schematic flow diagram 50 of various operations andinteractions available with learning management environments 12 of thepresent disclosure. For example, and as discussed above, the user'sinteraction with the learning management system 11 may begin with alogin 52 to the learning management environment 12 resulting in accessto the learning management environment interface 54. From the learningmanagement environment interface 54, the user may select any one or moreof the modules described above and shown in the figures. Three suchoptions are shown in FIG. 2, including selecting a report 56, selectingan exercise 58, and selecting another module 60.

In the event that the user selects a report 56, the learning managementenvironment 12 may proceed directly to display the report 62.Additionally or alternatively, the learning management environment 12may be adapted to open a new window 64 in which the report is displayed.Moreover, depending on the report selected by the user, the learningmanagement environment may be adapted to prompt the user for additionalinformation 66, such as users, activities, dates, report display type,and/or other information for the report. As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, avariety of personal reports 26 and administrative reports 28 may beselected from the learning management environment 12 and generated bythe learning management system 11. Some of the possible reports areillustrated in the figures of the present application; others may bepossible. The user's interaction with the learning managementenvironment to generate one or more reports may vary depending on thenature of the report being requested and/or on the nature of the user(e.g., learner, educator, administrator, etc.).

With continued reference to FIG. 2 and similar to the functionality ofthe learning management systems after a user selects a report 56, when auser selects one of the other modules shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 thelearning management system may display and/or open 68 one or more newwindows displaying the information and features requested. For example,if the user requests to contact the provider of the learning system 10,the user may select the desired module at 60 and the learning managementsystem 11 may open a new window having email/messaging functionality forthe user to send a message to the provider. Additionally oralternatively, additional methods of contacting the provider may beprovided in the same window as the learning management environment, suchas by populating the content panel 20 with information and/or messagingfunctionality.

With continuing reference to FIG. 2, in the event that the user electsto select an exercise 58, the learning management system 11 may beadapted to launch the exercise environment 70, such as by opening a newwindow containing the exercise environment 14. Additionally oralternatively, the learning management environment 12 may be adapted tolaunch the exercise environment 14 in a new tab within the same windowor may reload the window with the exercise environment 14. Once in theexercise environment 14, the user may encounter a variety of options andscreens, at least some of which may be dependant on the type ofeducational material being presented in the exercise. For example, insome implementations, the exercise environment 14 may include thepresentation of streaming audio, streaming video, and/or scrolling text.Additionally or alternatively, some exercise environments 14 may includeone or more setup or configuration screens prior to actuallyparticipating in the exercise. As illustrated schematically in FIG. 2,some implementations of the exercise environment 14 may lead the user toa setup screen 72. The setup screen 72 may include a variety of options,information, and/or data input options, which may vary based on thesubject matter of the educational materials. Additionally oralternatively, the exercise environment 14 may lead the user to asettings dialog 74, which may be on a separate window or in the samewindow as other aspects of the exercise environment. The settings dialog74 may allow the user to set one or more of the options for the exerciseenvironment, such as the reporting options and/or accuracy options, suchas will be better illustrated in connection with the subsequent figures.

Finally, with continuing reference to the schematic illustration in FIG.2, the exercise environment 14 may include controls to allow the user tobegin the exercise 76, to end and/or pause the exercise 78, and to saveand/or close the exercise 80. Other user controls may be provideddepending on the context of the educational materials. In someimplementations, in addition to the manual save option, the exerciseenvironment 14 may be adapted to automatically save informationperiodically while the user is interacting within the exerciseenvironment, which saves may be triggered by time, by events, or by someother factor. Additionally or alternatively, the exercise environment 14may be adapted to automatically save information about the exercisesession when the user closes the exercise environment. The save functionin the exercise environment, which may be executed by the contentengine, the navigation engine, or some combination of components, may beconfigured to save information to a local memory at the user's computeror, more preferably, may be configured to save data and informationregarding the exercise environment back to the learning managementsystem 11. For example, the learning management system, and moreparticularly the learning management engine and its associateddatabases, may include databases that store information and dataregarding each of the users registered with the learning managementsystem. The databases may include information about the user andinformation about the user's progress and performance in the exercisesto which the user has access. By saving information about the user'sprogress and performance in the exercise environment back to thelearning management system, the learning systems of the presentdisclosure are able to guide the learning experience and to report onthe learning experience.

The foregoing discussion of schematic block diagrams provides ahigh-level overview of the functionality of the present learning systemsthat may be adapted for use with any educational subject matter. Asnoted above, the present learning systems 10 are particularly adaptedfor educational materials directed to teaching and/or practicing skillsrather than just recalling information, and particularly to skills thatrequire real-time accuracy and/or speed, such as psychomotor skills.FIGS. 3-23 provide exemplary screen captures of a representativeWeb-based learning management system adapted to teach and allow learnersto practice skills related to transcription services, includingkeyboarding and use of a steno machine. FIGS. 3-23 will now be describedto illustrate an exemplary user's experience with learning managementsystems within the present disclosure. Variations from the usagepresented below that allow a learning management system to track andreport on a user's skill-based performance rather than recall basedperformance are within the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a learning management system user interface screen100 such as may be presented before the user logs into the system. Asseen in FIG. 3, the user interface screen 100 is formatted and laid outsimilar to the learning management environment 12, as will be seen insubsequent figures. However, as the user has not logged in to thelearning system 10, the system does not present exercises or otherreporting features that are available to a registered and logged-inuser. Accordingly, the user interface screen 100 shown in FIG. 3 may beconsidered an introduction screen 101 and may include a login prompt 103or other method to allow the user to log into the learning managementsystem 10. Additionally, the introduction screen 101 may include anyvariety of modules 16 to provide the visiting user to learn about thelearning management system 10.

Once the user logs into the learning system 10, the user interfacescreen 100 may be updated to present the learning management environment12 shown in FIG. 4 and discussed above in connection with FIG. 1. As canbe seen by comparing FIGS. 3 and 4, many of the modules 16 from FIG. 3have now been moved to the right-hand side of the learning managementenvironment 12 and are referred to as the miscellaneous modules 32 andtips modules 34 discussed above. As can be seen by the location trailindicator 36, the user interface screen 100 of FIG. 4 shows the learningmanagement environment 12 at the “home” location, which is generally thelocation in a content package prior to the user selecting an exercise ora particular subdivision of the education materials contained in thecontent package. FIG. 4 illustrates that the home state may provide ablank content panel module 20 or one that includes simple graphics and awelcome screen. Additionally or alternatively, the content panel module20 may display or present any suitable Web-enabled content (i.e., audio,video, text, etc.) at the home state. For example, a message from theeducational institution and/or educators may be presented in the contentpanel when the learning management environment is at the home state.

Other aspects of FIGS. 4 and 5 were described previously, including thevarious modules 16 that may be incorporated into the learning managementenvironment 12. In some implementations of the learning managementsystem 11, the modules presented in the learning management environment12 may be customized for the user and/or for the location or context ofthe content in the content panel 20 of the learning managementenvironment. For example, the admin reports module 28 may not beavailable to a user logged in as a learner rather than as anadministrator. Additionally or alternatively, the elements of themodules 16 may vary based on one or more factors. For example, there maybe multiple categories of administrators, such as institutionaladministrators and educators, and each category may be entitled todifferent reports and/or access to the learning system 10. For example,an educator may not need or want access to reports regarding theenrolled users (one of the options shown in the admin reports module 28)and this option may not be available to a user logged in as an educator.

FIG. 6 was also described briefly above. As shown in FIG. 6, the userhas selected one of the activities presented in the activities module 18and the content panel module 20 presents the exercises 38 availablewithin that activity. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the exercises 38 withinthe activity may be grouped in chapters 40 or lessons having a commontheme. The learning systems 10 of the present disclosure may be adaptedto customize the material presented in the content panel module 20 tothe user logged in to the system. For example, an educator may prefer tolimit the available exercises 38 within an activity according to theuser's position or progress within the materials. As one illustrativeexample, the learning system 10, whether through the learning managementsystem 11, the navigation engine 13, or some combination of elements ofthe learning system 10, may be adapted to not present the material andexercises of lesson three until the user has completed the exercises oflesson two. Similarly, the learning system 10 may be adapted to withholdthe materials of lesson three until a predetermined time has been spenton the exercises of lesson two or until a predetermined accuracypercentage has been reached in each of the exercises of lesson two.Similar adaptations may be made according to the educator's preferences.Additionally or alternatively, the list of activities available in theactivities module 18 may be similarly customized according to theeducator's preferences. Still additionally or alternatively, thelearning system 10 may be adapted to present all of the activities 18,lessons 40, and exercises 38 to the user regardless of the user'sprogress in the materials, but may deactivate the links to theunderlying materials. Such an approach may be preferred to allow theuser to see the map of where the user will be going in the course whilestill guiding the user through the materials at the educator's preferredpace. Similarly, the educator may prefer to give the user access to anyand all of the content for a self-guided educational experience. Suchconfiguration options in the learning system may be determined by thenature or subject matter of the educational material being presentedthrough the content packages of the learning system.

FIG. 6 also illustrates the function of the location trail indicator 36.By comparing the location trail indicator 36 shown in FIG. 4 and thelocation trail indicator 36 shown in FIG. 6, it can be seen that thelocation trail indicator 36 is adapted to show the user where the useris in the content package presented in the content panel module 20. Insome implementations of the present learning systems 10, the contentpackages, which are stored in the content repository and which providethe content for the activities module 18 and the content panel module20, may be configured to provide content in various nesting levels. Forexample, the content package may be adapted to provide activities at thehighest level; each activity may include multiple lessons, and eachlesson may include multiple exercises. Rather than presenting theexercises in a grouped manner as shown in FIG. 6, the exercises may benested below the lesson so that the user opens the lesson, and possiblyreviews educational materials, before accessing the exercises. In suchconfigurations, the location trail indicator 36 may help the userrecognize where the particular content or exercises fit into the largercontent package, and therefore how the particular content and exercisesrelate to the other materials being presented. Additionally, thelocation trail indicator 36 may provide links to facilitate thenavigation of the content provided to the user.

FIG. 7 illustrates a representative user interface screen 100 showing alearning management environment 12 wherein the user has selected adifferent activity from the activity module 18 compared with thelearning management environment of FIG. 6. Comparing FIGS. 6 and 7, itcan be seen that selecting a different activity from the activity module18 causes the information and content of the content panel module 20 tochange and causes the location trail indicator 36 to be updated toreflect the content of the content panel module 20.

FIG. 7 illustrates more clearly the interaction between the learningmanagement environment 12 and the exercise environment 14. As introducedabove, the exercise environment 14 is where the user participates inexercises that test the user's skills and understanding, comprehension,or recollection of the subject matter presented in the educationalmaterials of the content packages. The content panel module 20 of FIG. 7illustrates that the individual exercises are accompanied by twodifferent progress indicators 42: the percentage accuracy indicator 44and the time spent indicator 46. The data that controls and updatesthese progress indicators 42 is generated in the exercise environment14, such as by the content engine 15 and/or the navigation engine 13, asthe user interacts with the content from the content repository. Thedata from the exercise environment is communicated to the learningmanagement system (e.g., to the learning management engine and/orassociated databases) and is presented to the user via the progressindicators 42. As can be seen in FIG. 7, each of the exercises 38 areaccompanied by separate progress indicators 42. While percentageaccuracy indicators 44 and time spent indicators 46 are illustrated,other progress indicators 42 may be provided that may be more suitablefor the subject matter of the educational materials being presented.Similarly, while two progress indicators 42 are shown, greater or fewerprogress indicators may be implemented.

FIG. 8 illustrates still additional aspects of the learning managementenvironment 12 that may be presented to the user via a user interfacescreen 100. Similar to the learning management environments 12 discussedabove, the learning management environment of FIG. 8 includes a contentpanel module 20 that provides access to one or more exercises 38. FIG. 8illustrates that each of the exercises 38 may be presented with moreinformation regarding the nature and purpose of the exercise in additionto the title of and link to load the content in the exerciseenvironment. Additionally, FIG. 8 illustrates that additional oralternative modules 16 may be incorporated into the learning managementenvironment 12 and that the modules can be arranged in any suitablemanner. For example, the learning management environment 12 may beadapted for use by practicing professionals rather than by students andthe learning management environment 12 may include a continuingeducation module 82 to assist the professional in obtaining credit forefforts spent in the learning management system 10.

Once the user selects an exercise 38 from the content panel module 20, anew window may open presenting the exercise environment 14 in a pop-upuser interface screen 102. FIG. 9 illustrates one example of the newpop-up window that may be opened for the exercise environment 14.Additionally or alternatively, the learning system 10 may be adapted toload the exercise environment 14 into a new tab in the same window or toreplace the learning management environment 12 with an exerciseenvironment 14.

In the pop-up user interface screen 102 of FIG. 9, the user is presentedwith the exercise environment 14 in the form of a tabbed window having aset-up tab 104 and an exercise tab 106. The set-up tab 104 is shown inFIG. 9 and illustrates an exemplary configuration of a set-up screen 72such as discussed in connection with FIG. 2. The setup tab 104 is alsoillustrated schematically in FIG. 1 as one aspect of the exerciseenvironment 14. The set-up tab 104 of FIG. 9 provides backgroundinformation for the user and presents the user with an interface toset-up any equipment that may be associated with the exercise, such asthe steno machine in the exemplary exercises for court reporters.Similar set-up screens 72 may be customized for the user depending onthe context of the educational materials. Additionally or alternatively,the set-up tab 104 and/or set-up screen 72 may be omitted from theexercise environment 14 as a separate tab or screen and the relevantinformation for the exercise may be communicated via a single windowexercise environment 14.

FIG. 10 illustrates the exercise environment 14 having the exercise tab106 displayed in the pop-up user interface screen 102. The illustrated,exemplary exercise tab 106 of FIG. 10 presents the user with a settingspanel 108, a transcript panel 110, and an input panel 112, each of whichmay be generated by the content engine 15 based on data obtained by thecontent engine 15 from the content repository 17. The settings panel 108may provide the user with an opportunity to adjust the characteristicsof the exercise in any number of manners to affect the function of thecontent engine 15 while the user is in the exercise environment. Asillustrated, the settings panel 108 includes the option of changing thepresentation mode through the presentation mode controller 114 to selectbetween video mode, which includes audio, audio only mode, or text onlymode. The content engine 15 may read data from the content files in thecontent repository to determine which modes should be available for thepresentation mode controller 114 for a particular exercise. For example,some exercises may not be adapted for video mode. Additionally, thesettings panel 108 allows the user to adjust the speed 116 of theexercise when done in a text only mode. The text only mode will bedescribed in more detail below, but it is noted here that the speedsetting 116 may allow the user to vary the text scrolling speed in anynumber of gradations, such as nine distinct speeds, ranging from about40-50 words per minute to about 220-240 words per minute. The speed ofthe audio and video content may be set by the exercise selected by theuser as in the illustrated example or may be set by the user. In theillustrated example, the user selected an exercise having an audio andvideo speed of 90 Words per minute, as seen in the video playback screen118. In the example context of court reporting, the video playbackscreen 118 may be provided to allow the user to practice using visualcues to improve transcription speed and/or accuracy. In other contexts,the video playback screen 118 may provide the user with other visualinputs and/or feedback.

The settings panel 108 of the exercise tab 106 shown in FIG. 10 alsoallows the user to select the coaching preference mode 120, such aschecking word-by-word or checking the entire exercise. Additionally, theillustrated exercise tab 106 includes a punctuation check option 122that allows the user to select the level of accuracy with which to checkthe exercise. In the context of the court reporting example, when thepunctuation check option is enabled by the user, the content engine 15may be adapted to compare the user's input to the correct transcript andrecord any differences between the two as an error, includingdifferences in capitalization, commas, dashes, semi-colons, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 1 and with continuing reference to FIG. 10, thesettings panel 108, and particularly the settings regarding the coachingpreferences mode and the punctuation check option, may be adapted tocommunicate with an analysis module 124 of the content engine 15. Theanalysis module 124 is adapted to compare the transcript that underliesthe exercise (and that is eventually displayed in the transcript panel110) with the data entered by the user in the input panel 112 indetermining the score or performance of the user. In the exemplarycontext of court reporting, the analysis module 124 may be adapted tocompare each word or character of the transcript underlying the exercisewith each word input by the user into the user panel 112. The exercisesin the court reporting context may be based around a known speech ordialog for which a transcript is prepared and stored in the contentrepository. The analysis module 124 may be run by the content engine 15in the background while the user is in the exercise environment. Moredetail regarding the analysis module 124 is provided below.

FIG. 11 illustrates the exemplary exercise environment 14 after the userhas begun the exercise in video mode. As illustrated, the video playbackscreen 118 has begun to stream audio and video content to the user'sscreen, which the user is expected to practice transcribing into theinput panel 112 through the use of a keyboard or other input device. Thevideo playback screen 118 includes a play/pause button 126 and a resetbutton 128 as well as a screen size toggle button 130. The videoplayback screen 118 is one component of a streaming media player 132that is dynamically loaded by the content engine 15 that produces theexercise environment for presentation of the content from the contentrepository. The streaming media player 132 may be adapted to have anyvariety of features to facilitate the streaming of media to the exerciseenvironment, either from the content repository or from other locations.

In an exemplary configuration of the streaming media player 132, themedia player may be adapted to dynamically load the intro screen 134shown in FIG. 10, which presents basic information about the exercise.The intro screen 134 may be loaded into the media player when the userselects the exercise from the learning management environment and may beloaded from an XML file stored within the content package. A preferredstreaming media player 132 may be adapted to include a stream aheadfeature whereby the streaming media player begins streaming the mediafile to a local cache for smoother streaming in the background while theuser is still adjusting the settings or the setup of the exercise. Themedia file presented by the streaming media player 132 may be anysuitable media file, with FLV files (Flash video format) being presentlypreferred.

When the user is ready to begin the exercise, the user presses theplay/pause button 126 to cause the media player 132 to load and play thestreaming media, which may have been streamed to a local cache asdescribed above or may be streamed over an active Internet connection.In some implementations, the streaming media player 132, on its own oras directed by the content engine 15, may be adapted to load astandardized audio file for playback prior to initiating the playback ofthe media for the exercise, which may be desired to allow the user toprepare for the exercise.

The user may press the play/pause button again to pause the playback andsubsequent clicks of the play/pause button 126 may toggle playback. Thereset button 128 may reset the exercise and the media playback to thebeginning. FIG. 11 also illustrates a slider bar 134 combined with astreaming progress bar 136. As is conventional in media players, theslider bar 134 may be adapted to allow the user to move forward andbackward within the downloaded media. The streaming progress bar 136 mayinclude a colored (or other form of indicator) bar that advances infront of the slider bar location to show the progress toward downloadingthe entire streaming content to the local cache. Additionally, the usermay press the screen size toggle button to toggle between large andsmall video playback screens. For example, during the exercise the usermay not need to see the settings dialogs and/or the transcript panel 110and the video playback screen 118 may expand to provide the user withmore convenient view of the video playback.

With continued reference to FIG. 11, the transcript panel 110 may remainsubstantially blank during playback of the audio and/or video streamswhen the exercise is conducting in these modes. As illustrated however,the transcript panel 110 may be a preferred location to displaycopyright information or other information regarding the materialspresented in the exercise. Accordingly, the content engine 15 may beadapted to dynamically load content into the exercise environment 14,such as from an XML file, to display content background information 138in a suitable location, such as in the transcript panel or any othersuitable location.

Once the user begins the exercise by clicking the play/pause button 126,the user begins transcribing the material presented by the exercise intothe input panel 112. As shown in FIG. 11, the user is conducting theexercise in “word-by-word” coaching mode and differences between theinput transcript and the actual transcript are indicated to the user byat least one means. For example, the color, the font, and/or the formatof the text in the input screen may be modified when there is an errorin the dictation. In a preferred mode, the text in the input screen maybe changed from black font to red font. For the purposes of the presentapplication and clarity for readers thereof, the text that would bepresented in altered color in a live implementation of the presentsystems is shown in the illustrations as underlined text. Accordingly,in FIG. 11, the first colored word “ase” is flagged for the user becausethe correct word should be “the”. Additionally, in the event that theuser had selected the punctuation check option to on, certain text wouldbe flagged for the user for failing to capitalize or correctly punctuatecertain word, phrases, or sentences of the text.

When in the check word-by-word mode of the exercise, the user may electto have sound effects turned on or off, such as by toggling the soundeffects button 140. When the sound effects are turned on, a sound mayplay for the user upon entry of a correct word, an incorrect word, orboth. The instant audio feedback may be helpful to a student that iswatching the video playback screen 118 rather than the text being addedto the input panel 112.

As illustrated in FIG. 11 and in some of the following figures, theexercise environment 14 may be adapted to provide the user withsubstantially immediate notice of mistakes made during the course of theexercise. The feedback capabilities of the exercise environment are madepossible at least in part by the content engine 15 and the analysismodule 124 illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 and operating in thebackground of the exercise environment 14. In one implementation of theanalysis module, the content engine waits for the user to enter a spacein the input panel. The analysis module then reviews the word (i.e., thestring of characters following the immediately preceding space) andcompares it to the correct transcript incorporated in the exercisecontent package. If the inputted word is a mismatch, it is flagged forthe user as such (e.g., by changing the color, font, format, etc.) and,when in the check word-by-word mode, checks the words preceding and/orfollowing the input word in the transcript and in the user input todetermine if the mismatched word is an added word, a concatenated word,the result of a dropped word, or some other form of wrong word. In someimplementations, the type of mismatch is recorded for subsequentcoaching purposes. Additionally or alternatively, the type of mismatchmay be used to modify the method used to flag the error for the user,such as modifying the color coding or format coding. Similarmethodologies may be used in ‘check entire exercise mode’ to providerapid feedback to the user upon selection of the “check” button 142.

In other implementations of the analysis module, such as may bepreferred when the exercise is conducted in check entire exercise modeand word-by-word mode, the analysis module 124 may utilizeprobability-based intelligent analysis to maximize the accuracy of theanalysis. In a probability-based analysis, the analysis module 124 maybe adapted to look forward and backward with the text of the correcttranscript and the user's inputted transcript to determine theprobability that the unidentified character strings are intended tomatch up with a particular section of the correct transcript. Once theanalysis module has determined to a high probability that it iscomparing the right portions of the user's transcript and the correcttranscript, the analysis module may proceed to check for errors. In someimplementations, the analysis module 124 may be adapted to check forcertain forms of errors first, such as an added word or the result of adropped word before proceeding to check for other types of errors, suchas a concatenated word or simply a wrong word or string of nonsensicalcharacters. The use of probability-based analysis may be particularlyappropriate in long or complex exercises where the user mayintentionally or unintentionally make numerous errors or drop largeportions of the material. Rather than flagging the majority of the inputtext as incorrect when the analysis module is merely comparing the wrongportions, the probability-based analysis may enable more accurateanalysis. Additionally, the probability-based analysis may enable fasterand/or more accurate identification of the errors and the types oferrors.

Referring now to FIG. 12, which represents a user's failed attempt topractice the exercise selected, one guided coaching tool is illustrated.As seen in FIG. 12, the user was attempting to transcribe the samedialog input in FIG. 11, but made several mistakes including droppingseveral words in a row. In some implementations of the present learningmanagement systems, the content engine 15 with the assistance of theanalysis module 124 may be adapted to pause the exercise when a user hascommitted more than a predetermined number of errors in the exercise ora predetermined number of errors within a certain number of words. Asillustrated, the exercise was interrupted by a pop-up screen indicatingthat exercise was stopped, why it was stopped, and providing suggestionsas to what the use can do to improve performance. Additionally oralternatively, the pop-up interruption screen 144 may provide the userwith a stand-alone practice area for the user to practice a difficultcombination of words prior to returning to the actual exercise. Forexample, in some implementations of the present systems, the analysismodule 124 and the content engine 15 may pause the playback of theexercise with even a single mistake. The pop-up interruption window 144may then display the words that were added, dropped, or otherwiseincorrect in the input along with adjacent words to illustrate theproblem area. The user may then be prompted to practice the combinationof words a predetermined number of times in a practice window separatefrom the input panel prior to returning to the exercise. Such animplementation may provide quick and focused feedback to the user withample opportunities to correct mistakes and develop better skills.

FIG. 13 illustrates the exercise environment 14 when the user haselected to conduct the exercise in audio only mode (see selection inpresentation mode selector 114) and with the coaching preference mode120 set to ‘check entire exercise’ with the punctuation check option 122set to on. In the audio only mode, the streaming media player 132 may beadapted to maintain the intro screen rather than presenting a streamingvideo. Nevertheless, the slider bar 134 and streaming progress bar 136may continue to be active in response to the streaming audio that isdownloaded to the local cache and streamed to the user. The input panel112 of FIG. 13 further illustrates that the ‘check entire exercise’ modehas allowed the user to input text including several errors withoutflagging them for the user. Accordingly, the check entire exercise modemay allow the user to focus on speed and completing the exercise, thecheck word-by-word mode may aid the user in improving accuracy whilefocusing less on the speed of the user.

FIG. 14 illustrates the exercise environment 14 once the user hasclicked the check button 142 in FIG. 13. Among the changes to theexercise environment 14, the content engine of the present disclosure isadapted to display the correct transcript 146 that corresponds to theexercise in the transcript panel 110. Additionally, the content engine15, such as by the analysis module 124, is adapted to compare thecorrect transcript 146 with the material input by the user into theinput panel 112. FIG. 14 illustrates an alternative manner of indicatingerrors or mismatched words, such as by displaying the mismatched word inbold face type or varied colors. Additionally, FIG. 14 illustrates thatthe content engine 15 and background analysis module 124 may be adaptedto insert the text “<DROP>”, “<MISSING>”, “<DROPPED>”, or any otherindicator, such as a text indicator, when there has been a dropped word,as seen in the input panel 112. Additionally, the content engine 15 andthe analysis module 124 may be adapted to modify the color, the font, orother aspect of the correct transcript 146 for words corresponding tothe errors identified in the input panel 112 to help the user identifythe mistakes. FIG. 14 also illustrates the operation of the error checkmode in that the text in the input panel 112 is flagged where the usereither typed incorrect or omitted words 148. The transcript panel 110also includes corresponding highlighted, colored, or flagged textidentifying the correct words 150. Thus, among other examples ofreal-time advice, by identifying errors and providing correct words inreal-time, the learning system 10 of the present disclosure is capableof providing real-time advice to users.

FIG. 14 also illustrates a coaching summary box 152 showing the numberof errors and the accuracy level. Additionally or alternatively, thecoaching summary box 152 may include a link for items the user needs topractice during a focused repractice exercise, such as an “items torepractice” or other link described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25.When the user clicks the “items to repractice” link, the content engine15 may expand the coaching summary box 152 or may open a new windowshowing a list of the mismatched words together with a predeterminednumber of words before and/or after the mismatched word. The contentengine 15 may also prompt the user to repractice each of the mismatchedwords a predetermined number of times and may provide space for suchrepractice to allow the user to hone skills in certain strugglingaspects without repracticing the entire exercise. Additionally oralternatively, the coaching summary box 152 may display a list ofclickable menu items illustrating the number of mismatches caused by“adds only,” “drops only,” “untranslates only,” “misstrokes andconflicts only,” and other types of errors. When the user clicks one ofthese clickable menu items, only errors of the type clicked arepresented to the user, which may be presented for the purpose ofproviding information only and/or for the purpose of allowing the userto repractice those particular types of errors.

The content engine 15 may be adapted to provide adaptive remediation toa user based upon error-related feedback reported back from the analysismodule. For example, depending upon the frequency, intensity,recurrence, time and other parameters of an error or set of errorscommitted by a user, the content engine 15 may obtain and presentcontent tailored and focused on improving the user's performance withrespect to the user's error-prone skills. Thus, the content engine 15 iscapable of presenting, through the exercise environment, to a user,specific content or exercises likely to be most beneficial in assistingusers in improving their performance relating to specific areas of weakor developing skills.

Still additionally or alternatively, the coaching summary box 152 mayinclude a “continue” link 154 allowing the user to return to theexercise at the point where the user elected to check the exercise. FIG.15 illustrates the exercise environment 14 after the user has clicked onthe “continue” link 154 of FIG. 14. As can be seen by comparing FIGS. 13and 15, the exercise environment 14 may return to precisely the samescreen from which the user elected to check the work and may providecontinue instructions in the input panel 112 or elsewhere in theexercise environment. As illustrated, the user may continue from theprior location by simply clicking the play/pause button 126.Additionally or alternatively, the user may continue from a differentlocation by using the slider bar 134.

The text only presentation mode will now be described with reference toFIGS. 16 and 17. As seen in FIG. 16, the user may be able to select thespeed 116 of the text to allow the user to practice at different speeds,such as introduced above. In other aspects, the exercise environment 14may be substantially the same as the exercise environments in otherpresentation modes. However, in the text only mode, the transcript panel110 may include a dynamic text player 158 adapted to dynamically loadtext of the underlying correct transcript 146 from an XML file or othertype of file.

In the text only mode, the controls (i.e., play/pause button 126, resetbutton 128, slider bar 134, and streaming progress bar 136) may bedeactivated in the streaming media player and loaded into the dynamictext player 158 to allow the user to control the playback of the textstream. The dynamic text player 158 may “stream” the text to the userthrough use of a text viewer 160 adapted to clarify and brighten thetext of the transcript while it is within the text viewer 160. The textviewer 160 may be adapted to remain in a fixed location while the textis scrolled upward at the pace selected by the user by the speed control116. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the text in the text viewer 160 may bebrightest as it enters the text view and then gradually blur to the topof the viewer 160. The text may be advanced or scrolled upward throughany suitable programming means to accomplish the desired rate. In someimplementations, the text may scroll one pixel at a time to maximize thesmoothness of the streaming. When the user is interacting with theexercise environment in text only mode, the user may be able to selecteither coaching preference mode and the analysis module 124 and contentengine 15 may provide similar feedback and coaching responses asdescribed above.

The exercise environment 14 illustrated in various modes of operation inFIGS. 9-17 may be adapted to facilitate the user's interaction with theexercise environment in several ways, some of which were discussedabove. Additionally or alternatively, the input panel 112 may be adaptedto work seamlessly with one or more commercially available computerassisted transcription software packages to facilitate the integrationof external input devices with the exercise environment. Additionally,the side-by-side layout of the input panel 112 and the transcript panel110 facilitates the user's comparison and review of errors identified bythe content engine 15 and, when in the text only mode, provides aconvenient manner for the user to see the streaming text alongside theinput panel 112.

Additionally or alternatively, the content engine 15 may be adapted toprovide a cursor focus function. The cursor focus function may beadapted to ensure that the input from the user is always into to theinput panel 112 rather than at some other location in the exerciseenvironment. Accordingly, when the user uses a curser to click the playbutton 126 in the settings panel 108, the cursor focus reverts from thesettings panel 108 back to the input panel 112. Accordingly, once theuser clicks the play button 126 to begin the exercise, the user does nothave to remember to position the cursor back into the input panel 112before beginning to type. Therefore, the user is able to focus on thetask of the exercise rather than the computer's behavior.

The foregoing discussion has focused on the exemplary educationalcontext of instructing court reporters and other transcriptionists, suchas medical transcriptionists and other coders. However, as indicatedpreviously in the present application, the relationship between thelearning management environment, the exercise environment, the userinput devices, and the content engine may be adapted to providereal-time or substantially real-time practice of practical skills ratherthan, or in addition to, recollection, comprehension, or understandingof academic concepts. Additionally, the learning systems of the presentdisclosure may provide feedback and coaching systems in substantiallyreal-time to allow the user to practice those skills that needimprovement. The learning systems may be adapted to cooperate with anyvariety of external user input devices and thereby be adapted to trainprofessionals, technicians, or others in a variety of occupations orskill sets.

As discussed at various points above, one aspect of the presentdisclosure includes the relationship and communication between theexercise environment and the learning management environment, or moreparticularly, between the learning management system 11 and thenavigation engine 13 that loads the exercises for the user, such asthrough the content engine 15, wherein the content is stored in acontent repository that is remote from the server or domain on which thelearning management system 11 is hosted. Referring to FIG. 1, thecontent engine 15 may include a reporting module 160 that runs in thebackground of the exercise environment. The reporting module 160 may beadapted to communicate any variety of information from the exerciseenvironment to the navigation engine 13, which may be adapted tocommunicate such information to the learning management system 11. In apreferred implementation, the reporting module 160 may be adapted tocommunicate the time spent by the user in a given exercise and theaccuracy attained by the user in the exercise. Accordingly, thereporting module 160 may be in communication with the analysis module124 to receive the accuracy information from the exercise environment14. Additionally or alternatively, the content engine 15 may combine theanalysis module and the reporting module into a single module.Additionally, the content engine 15 may include a runtime clock or othertimer mechanism to record the amount of time the user spends in theexercise. The timer mechanism may be adapted to distinguish betweenactual practice time and time spent configuring the exercise or othernon-practice time while the exercise environment is open, such as whenthe user leaves the exercise environment open while taking a break fromthe exercise.

The content engine 15 may be adapted to dynamically update the time andaccuracy records while the user is participating in the exercise. Thereporting module 160 via the content engine and the navigation engine 13may additionally or alternatively be adapted to communicate the time andaccuracy records back to the learning management system at predeterminedtimes and/or upon predetermined events. For example, the exerciseenvironment 14 and the reporting module 160 may be adapted send updatedtime and accuracy reports to the learning management system when theuser clicks the “check” button 142 or when the user clicks the “saveprogress” button 162 shown on each of the exercise environments of FIGS.9-17. Additionally or alternatively, the content engine 15 by way of thenavigation engine 13 may send updated records to the learning managementenvironment when the user closes the exercise environment browserwindow.

Depending on the configuration of the reporting module and the frequencywith which it sends updated records to the learning managementenvironment, the servers hosting the learning management environment maybe unduly burdened and the user's experience negatively affected, suchas by distractions caused by frequent screen refreshes, if the entirelearning management environment is updated every few minutes.Accordingly, the learning management environment may be adapted tocontrol the refresh rate of the information presented to the user. Forexample, the learning system of the present disclosure may be adapted toknow when the learning management environment window has the focus ofthe user's computer (as compared to being displayed in the backgroundwhile the user interacts with the exercise environment). In suchimplementations, the learning management system may update the recordsin the associated databases with the desired frequency of the reportingmodule but only update the entire learning management environment uponreceiving the user's focus. Additionally or alternatively, the learningmanagement system may use Ajax functionality to update or refresh onlyline items of the learning management environment when the records areupdated. Accordingly, when the learning management environment displaysmultiple exercises that may be selected along with the correspondingaccuracy and time indicators, the accuracy and time indicators of onlyone exercise will be updated as the user is interacting in the exerciseenvironment. The line-item update may significantly reduce the bandwidthrequirements, refresh rates, and the load on the servers.

In addition to providing an access port to the exercises, the learningmanagement environment 12 may provide various reporting options andadministrative options, as suggested by FIG. 1 and the discussion ofFIGS. 1-5. Some of these reports and administrative options will now bedescribed in more detail. With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 as anexemplary learning management environment 12, the learning managementenvironment may include a calendar module 24. The calendar module 24 mayprovide a simple calendar interface for the users to schedule classes,meetings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the calendarmodule 24 may provide a customizable and personalized calendar for useby the student, teacher, and administrative users. For example, thestudents may add personal items to the calendar and mark them as privateor public. The users may then be able to select the level of detaildesired in the calendar module. Additionally or alternatively, thecalendar module 24 may be adapted to provide a discussion forum wherebythe user can associate discussion topics with a particular date, eitherto schedule a group discussion on that date or to provide a methodtracking comments to the discussion topic.

The calendar module 24 may include a batch import option whereby theuser adds items to the calendar in a simple spreadsheet layout, whichmay be in any suitable format such as comma separated values or one ofthe more complex formats. The user may add single items directly to acalendar interface or may open a spreadsheet-type entry screen when theuser desires to enter multiple calendar items. Additionally oralternatively, the batch import option may allow the user to import afile containing calendar items from the user's computer. For example,the user's calendar items may be stored in comma separated values fileon the user's computer (such as after an export from a personalinformation manager or from a spreadsheet program) and the commaseparated values file may be uploaded and imported into the calendarmodule 24. The batch import option may require that the user's file ofcalendar items be in a predetermined format and layout or may be adaptedto convert exported files from conventional personal informationmanagers.

Additionally, as discussed above, the learning management environment 12may include modules adapted exclusively for the administrators of thelearning system. One such module may include a SCO batch import module.An SCO is a Shareable Content Object that is SCORM conformant. SCOs thatmay be associated with the learning management system include thecontent packages that are presented to the user via the exerciseenvironment. In some implementations, the content packages are hosted onWeb domains or servers that are remote from the learning managementsystem 11, as discussed above. However, the learning management systemneeds to have access to the content manifest files to know whatexercises and educational materials are in the particular contentpackages, or SCOs. Accordingly, when an administrator wants to addmultiple new content packages to a learning management system, theadministrator may utilize the SCO batch import module to set up multipleSCOs without requiring manual set up of each SCO. In one implementation,the administrator would select one or more SCOs from a list, such asfrom a list of files in a particular folder or server, and click submitto batch import the selected SCOs. The batch import module may promptthe administrator for one or more details regarding the imported SCOs toproperly associate the SCOs with the other materials in the learningmanagement system but may be adapted to perform the actual set upthrough the simple interview process rather than requiring technicalsophistication on the part of the administrator.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the learning management environment 12 mayprovide user reports in a personal reports module 26. One exemplarypersonal report is the My Practice Time report 170 shown in FIG. 18. Asillustrated, the My Practice Time report 170 displays the user's actualpractice times in a calendar layout. Additionally or alternatively, theMy Practice Time report 170 may provide links on each day that the usercan click to pull up details about the exercises practiced and theperformance in each exercise on the selected day(s), such as shown inFIG. 20.

Another exemplary personal report is the My Progress report 172 shown inFIG. 19. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the My Progress report 172 may pullinformation from the learning management engine and associated databasesto present a report of the exercises practiced by the user, the timespent, and the accuracy percentage attained on each of the exercises. Insome implementations, the user may be able to sort the report by one ormore of the columns. Additionally or alternatively, some implementationsmay incorporate a date function into the progress report to allow theuser to sort by date or to see improved accuracy over time. Any amountor type of data may be reported to a personal or administrative user ofthe learning system 10 for one or more users of the system 10. Forexample, the report 172 may additionally or alternatively display and/orsort data based on a single exercise segment, a single exercise,selected multiple exercises, or all exercises relating to practice totalpractice time logged, total accumulated time spent practicing and/orreading, accuracy percentage, high scores, low scores, most commonerrors, and/or rate of improvement. Such data may be displayed in anyreport format, including table, calendar, chronological, chart, graph,or any other type of static or interactive display. For example, a lineor other graph may illustrate one or more user's typing speedimprovements with correlating practice times over a period of time inorder to tell a user or administrator how typing speed improves bothover time and as a function of total practice time by the one or moreusers. An administrator of an exercise environment may provideincentives for certain performance by users, including real or virtualawards, trophies, or other incentives that may be posted to a useraccount incentives module or may be delivered directly to the user.

FIG. 20 illustrates a Practice Log 174 similar to the My Practice Timereport 170 of FIG. 18. The Practice Log 174 may be available to the userand/or to an administrator or educator that needs to monitor a student'spractice. As seen in FIG. 20, the Practice Log 174 includes a calendarlayout showing the user's practice time each day and including a detailslink 176 to pull up the details of a particular day or week. When theuser clicks the details link 176, the learning management system maydisplay exercises, times, and accuracies for the given day or period ofdays, in the same screen or in a new window.

FIG. 21 illustrates that an administrator or educator may be allowed toproduce progress reports on more than one student at a time. Forexample, a selected students progress report 178 may be displayed byasking the user to selected the desired students from a list, which mayinclude designations of groups of students such as those in a givenclass at a college, and then generating the requested progress reportsin a single screen layout. Similarly, the administrators or educatorsmay be able to generate selected students practice logs similar to thePractice Log 174 of FIG. 20 by selecting multiple students from a list.When the practice log shows data from multiple users, the detailsportion of the report may include a column indicating which userspracticed which exercises and/or may sort the details by user.

In some implementations, an administrator or educator may want to knowsimply how much time is being spent by the students in the learningsystem, such as to evaluate budgets and benefits to the students. Insuch circumstances, the learning management system may be adapted toprovide a practice time for all students report, which may be incalendar layout or columnar layout, that summarizes the time spent byall of the students associated with a particular instance of thelearning system, such as all of the students registered to use thelearning system at a particular educational institution. One example ofsuch an all students report is shown in FIG. 22 as the practice timetotal for all students report 180. While the illustrated all studentsreport 180 does not display a details link, such a feature may beincorporated into the all students report in a manner similar to theimplementation in the select students report. Additionally oralternatively, the administrators may want to know about the status ofusers, such as whether they are enrolled or registered users of thelearning management system. In such circumstances, the admin reportsmodule 28 may include a link for an enrolled users report.

Referring back to FIG. 5, the admin reports module 28 is shown includinga set timeout option 182. Upon clicking the set timeout option link, thelearning management system may present the user with a timeout dialogscreen 184, such as shown in FIG. 23. The timeout dialog screen 184 maybe used by administrators and/or educators to set the timeout limit forentire institutions, classes, groups of students, individuals,exercises, or groups of exercises. The timeout limit is the time thatthe user is allowed to sit idle before the exercise environmentrecognizes that the user is not actively practicing. Once the timeoutlimit is reached, such as if the user leaves for lunch or other break,the learning system, and more particularly the content engine 15, stopscounting additional time as practice time. The timeout limit, therefore,is one method of attempting to ensure that the practice time recorded bythe learning system is an accurate record of actual practice rather thanmerely an open exercise environment window. In some implementations, theadministrators and/or educators may wish to vary the timeout time limitfrom time to time so that users are not able to strategically interactwith the system to maximize recorded practice time while minimizingactual practice times. Additionally or alternatively, the learningsystem may be adapted to allow the administrator or educator to selectrandom or automatic control of the timeout function such that thelearning system varies the timeout limit over time without requiring theadministrators frequent input. Other reports and administrative optionsmay be incorporated into the learning system as necessary or appropriatefor the institutions and/or the context of the educational materials.

FIG. 24 illustrates the exercise environment 14 where a user may selectcertain options 186 relating to focused repractice 188 within thecoaching preferences mode 120. The options 186 may, for example, includerepractice by word, repractice by phrase, or no repractice. Focusedrepractice 188 functions to immediately pause an exercise for a userupon identification of an error and then provide a pop-up or screenrequiring repractice of a word, phrase, or other content relating to theerror. For example, when focused repractice by word is selected by auser, if the user incorrectly types the word “the” when the correct word“the” is expected, a focused repractice pop-up 190, see FIG. 25,appears, indicating the proper word or phrase 192 and then requiring theuser to correctly type the word “the” eight or more times. Uponcorrectly typing the word “the” a given amount of times, a “Correct!”message 194 appears congratulating the user for successful repractice onthe focused correct word or phase 192. The user may then click a button196 to resume practice in the exercise environment 14 (FIG. 24). Forrepractice of phrases, focused repractice may require a user tocorrectly repractice, for a certain number of repetitions, a certainnumber of words before and/or after, for example three words before andafter, a word containing an error before the user can return to theexercise.

As discussed above, the present disclosure provides a method ofpracticing skills and reporting and tracking performance on skills-basedmaterials rather than on quizzes and tests that are only able toevaluate recollection, comprehension, or understanding of academicconcepts. The content engine's adaptation to dynamically load streamingpractice materials and to compare a predetermined transcript with auser's input in substantially real-time and to convert that comparisonto a percentage accuracy provides a method for educators to monitor thelearners' progress and to thereby provide more directed assistance tothe learner when the educator and the learner are actually together orcommunicating directly.

It is believed that the disclosure set forth above encompasses multipledistinct inventions with independent utility. While each of theseinventions has been disclosed in its preferred form, the specificembodiments thereof as disclosed and illustrated herein are not to beconsidered in a limiting sense as numerous variations are possible. Thesubject matter of the inventions includes all novel and non-obviouscombinations and subcombinations of the various elements, features,functions and/or properties disclosed herein. The principles of thepresent disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its structures, methods, or other essentialcharacteristics as broadly described herein. The described embodimentsare to be considered in all respects only as illustrative, and notrestrictive. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore, not limited bythe foregoing description and all changes that come within the meaningand range of equivalency of the foregoing description are to be embracedwithin its scope. Similarly, where the description recites “a” or “afirst” element or the equivalent thereof, such description should beunderstood to include incorporation of one or more such elements,neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.

Applicant reserves the right to submit claims directed to certaincombinations and subcombinations that are directed to one of thedisclosed inventions and are believed to be novel and non-obvious.Inventions embodied in other combinations and subcombinations offeatures, functions, elements and/or properties may be claimed throughamendment of those claims or presentation of new claims in that or arelated application. Such amended or new claims, whether they aredirected to a different invention or directed to the same invention,whether different, broader, narrower or equal in scope to the originalclaims, are also regarded as included within the subject matter of theinventions of the present disclosure.

1. A network-based learning system, comprising: an input moduleconfigured to receive psychomotor input received from a psychomotordevice in response to a user practicing a psychomotor skill, wherein theinput module receives the psychomotor input in real time as the user ispracticing the psychomotor skill, wherein the psychomotor devicecomprises a steno machine, and wherein the psychomotor skill comprisesaccuracy of steno keystrokes at a given speed; a software applicationconfigured to convert, in real time, the psychomotor input into digitalpsychomotor performance data; an analysis module configured to comparethe digital psychomotor performance data with ideal psychomotorperformance data according to at least one of: a live, real time,word-by-word basis as the user is practicing the psychomotor skill, anentire exercise basis after the user has practiced an exercise for thepsychomotor skill, and a probability-based intelligent analysis based onthe psychomotor skill, wherein the analysis module is adapted to presentfocused repractice to the user, wherein the focused repractice includesrepractice of specific errors by at least one of word, phrase, and errortype, wherein the analysis module displays differences between thedigital psychomotor performance data and the ideal psychomotorperformance data through at least one of: highlighted error words andhighlighted “correct” words, bolded error words and bolded “correct”words, and crossed out error words with “correct” words adjacent toerror words, and wherein the analysis module displays a summary to theuser that includes kinds of errors and rates of occurrence of errors; acommunication module that communicates the digital psychomotorperformance data to a data module, wherein the digital psychomotorperformance data includes at least one of errors, kinds of errors, ratesof occurrence of errors, percent accuracy, and time spent, wherein thedata module stores the digital psychomotor performance data; and areporting module that displays the digital psychomotor performance data.